Hurricane Irene was difficult to escape, even with forced evacuations. From the wide-spread media coverage and weathermen standing in soaked rain jackets by the beach, everyone saw the hurricane this past weekend. Those on the North Carolina Coast all the way to Vermont experienced extremely severe weather. The hurricane caused massive power outages and flooding all along the eastern seaboard. Many places are still without electricity and running water. North Carolina’s governor, Bev Perdue stated in a press release Tuesday,

“Thousands of North Carolinians are still reeling from the devastation caused by Hurricane Irene, but we’re all pulling together to get things back to normal. For people who want to help, we’ve established the North Carolina Disaster Relief Fund.”

Money from the North Carolina Disaster Relief fund will go towards the rebuilding of homes and other volunteer efforts in the state of North Carolina. You can visit the website here: North Carolina Disaster Relief

If you would like to help in other effected cities of the United States, organizations such as the American Red Cross and AMERICARES are also offering assistance. While this hurricane was not as devastating as originally expected, homes still need to be rebuilt and people need your help. The Humane Society is also helping in hard hit areas such as North Carolina and Vermont. The Director of the Humane Society of North Carolina said today,

“”It takes a couple of days for the animals to really come out of their hiding places. And so, two, three, four days down the road, all of the sudden you find that there’s animals walking through the neighborhood.”

New Jersey American Water recently announced the winners of its “Tap For Tap” contest, in which New Jersey K-8 students wrote and performed original songs proclaiming the greatness of tap water. The entries in the contest were judged by how well the song lyrics and dance routien extolled the benefits of tap water.

Conover Primary School

The students at Conover Primary School choreographed a dance routine that allowed the whole class to participate, with individual students coming up to deliver their own lyrics in between the chorus of “Tap water — T.A.P.!”.

Madison Elementary

The students at Madison Elementary rapped about how “Water to drink, drink, drink, helps the brain think, think, think.”

Jefferson School

The fifth-graders at Jefferson School sang “Tap water is good for your body, tap water gives me energy, tap water is good for your body, so drink some tap water for me” to the tune of “My bonnie lies over the ocean.”

The New Jersey American Water and Scholastic is hosting a Tap for Tap Song and Dance contest for students in grades K-8. The purpose of the contest is to encourage students to help the environment by opting for tap water. To enter, teachers should have their students write a toe-tapping original song describing what makes tap water so special, and then choreograph a tap dance routine to go along with it. Teachers may submit entries by mailing in the song lyrics and a video of the dance, or by submitting the material online through the Scholastic Tap for Tap entry form. This contest is open to New Jersey public schools, private schools, home schools or dance schools.

Judging will be based solely on the song lyrics and how well it communicates the benefits of tap water. Three winning classrooms will receive a field day from New Jersey American Water, along with a brand new library of Scholastic books and a pizza party.

We thought this was a creative and fun way for students to learn about the benefits of opting for tap water over bottled water. Though the contest is currently open to students in the New Jersey area, perhaps teachers in other states can be inspired to host or participate in a similar event. Teach your kids about tap water now, so that they will develop good, environmentally-friendly habits from now into adulthood. Filters Fast offers several other ways for your students to learn about water and sustainability, including a WaterSafe Science Project Water Test Kit that can compare the water quality of up to 10 different tap water samples. For other ideas on taking your classroom to the next level, take a look at our “Educator’s Guide to Green Lessons and Activities,” as well as this collection of Energy and Science Projects for Students.